Monday, September 24, 2007

We continue our quest to try all of the commercially available Oktoberfests from Wisconsin breweries. If we can, we will try to find Oktoberfests from some of the breweries that aren't readily available here in Madison (Viking, Central Waters, Calumet, Lakefront, etc.); but we are starting with the ones that are.

The methodology is simple: blind tasting of two different Oktoberfests. In the mbr refrigerator is all of the Oktobers. One of us sets up the glasses with two random unannounced Oktobers, and another tastes without knowing which beers have been poured. Tasting notes are taken, and guesses are made as to which Oktober is being consumed. The following is those tasting notes; unedited. We try not to "rate" the beers, just to review them. Enjoy. If you have had any of these beers, please feel free to post your review in the comments.

Unfortunately this is the last Wisconsin Oktoberfest that we have in our refrigerator. More Wisconsin Oktobers exist, unfortunately they have proven elusive in obtaining in singles form. If you have any of the following, please get in touch with us, and we will arrange somthing:

In the meantime, the last beer is Point's Oktober. As a general rule, at MBR we aren't beer snobs; we are more than happy to drink well-made quantity beers. While we enjoy champagne-style beers, we also like the champagne of beers. In other words, we can appreciate beers brewed for the masses, so long as they are still quality beers. And, that's what you get with today's beer, the Point Oktoberfest. It's a quality non-craft beer. (RB. BA.)

Day 3 Sample B (Point)

Appearance: dense 1/2 inch head that takes it time slipping away, darker copper/amber in color; looks very nice

Aroma: big caramel, sweet and fruity aroma, smells almost artificial in the caramel

Taste: little hop character at all though there is some faint sharpness, all caramel and malt, given the aromas, the taste is surprisingly muted, not much complexity in the malt

Drinkability: not bad, I could drink this but would prefer Sample A or some of the others when looking for an Oktober

Summary/Notes: again, not bad; it seems a little thin for the style, and the hoppy-ness is way muted, and while the flavors are light for the style, the style is really all about drinkability and this, unlike some previous samples, has good drinkability

Guess: Point

Recommendation: not a bad choice for an Oktober; there are better examples of the styles to be had, but still would be a good choice